Forrest Griffin on Retirement and Judging in MMA

TUF season 1 winner and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Forrest Griffin recently sat down on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani to talk about his retirement and the current state of judging in professional mixed martial arts.

Griffin revealed that his retirement wasn’t a choice; it was an obligation. Years of fighting and rigorous training had taken its toll on his body leaving him unable to compete the way he wanted to.

“I physically can’t [come back]. I didn’t want to be done, in the beginning. When I announced my retirement, that was actually when I was trying to come back and I realized, it just wasn’t viable. It passed me by. My shoulder is done. I brush my teeth with my left hand now. That’s just the way it goes. I can’t shoot a basketball, I can’t throw any kind of ball. I was right handed. The last three years, I was kinda fighting with one arm, on and off.”

Griffin also spoke his mind on the controversial split decision victory of Georges St-Pierre over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167.

“Did Johny Hendricks get screwed? Maybe a little bit, but it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen in MMA. It’s not a fixable problem, is what I’m saying. You’re doing the best you can. … It’s just, there’s so many flaws in the judging system. You can change the system, you can change the scoring system, you can make it like Pride where it’s the totality of the fight — whatever the hell that means — but it’s always going to be difficult.”

The thirty-four year old elaborated on the subject of judging in MMA by pointing out that although the system has it’s flaws, people shouldn’t jump to conclusions and hastily get rid of it until they’re able to replace it with something better.

“I haven’t seen a better system in Europe, I haven’t seen a better system in South Africa. You show me a better system and I’m willing to get onboard. But I just need to see that system before I abandon this one.”

Griffin does bring up a good point. No matter how you feel about UFC 167 and the judging in MMA, the other side of the grass isn’t always greener. No system will ever be perfect and creating a new one will require lots of time and debate.

Steve became interested in combat sports when he joined his high
school’s wrestling team as freshman. His experience as a wrestler
sparked his interest in mixed martial arts when he recognized the
compatibility between the two sports. From there, he continued to
wrestle all throughout college until he earned his bachelor’s degree
in history. Steve’s interests in combat sports center mostly around
grappling, but he’s also interested in the history of the sport and
where it’s headed in the future.

Leading the next generation of Sports Science reporting, SciFighting continues it's mission to bring a better understanding of martial arts, fight science, general health and fitness to both the professional athlete and the community at large.